“This lagoon is in big trouble,” said guest speaker Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch at an invitational Afternoon Champagne Tea last Wednesday. The event, held at the Quail Valley River Club Boat House, introduced guests to the newly formed Ladies of the Lagoon, an offshoot of the Indian River Land Trust.
Thurlow-Lippisch has served on the Town of Sewall’s Point Commission since 2008, chairs the Florida League of Cities Environmental and Energy Committee, and is the administrator for River Kidz, a division of the Rivers Coalition.
Understanding that women can be a powerful force for positive change, Land Trust board members Kathleen Schulke and Stephanie Smith initiated the Ladies of the Lagoon concept. Their goal is to motivate women to understand the “interconnectivity of the land to the water” and to encourage them to become advocates for the lagoon.
Even before Wednesday’s event, an initial group of founding members had already raised more than $6,000 toward what they’re calling Adopt a Fish – Tag a Tail.
More than a catchy tag-line, the initiative will fund a research program headed by Grant Gilmore, to study the fish population in nurseries along the shoreline; specifically the Land Trust’s 111-acre Land Trust’s Bee Gum Point property.
“We’re very excited,” said Schulke, noting that membership funds will help fill the gap between grants and what is actually needed for the project.
“Today, I am here to motivate you,” said Thurlow-Lippisch.
She spoke of the super blooms, algae blooms and brown tides which have resulted in the loss of 60 percent of seagrass in the lagoon since 2009, and noted that in Indian River County alone, 32,000 acres have died since 2011.
“That’s insane. That’s unacceptable, and we will not have it. It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Thurlow-Lippisch credited Toni Robinson and the Land Trust with quietly starting its Save Our Indian River Lagoon campaign in 2008, purchasing critical shoreline properties. She noted that similar river movements south of here didn’t begin until 2013.
“Today, Ladies of the Lagoon is an attempt to go one step further. It is ladies who can change the world. It is ladies who make a lasting difference. I think this is the beginning of something big,” she said.
She commented that while men are wired to bulldoze and build, women are wired to nurture and care, adding, “We are wired for long-term values and goals; not just for short-term results.”
Of the Land Trust’s Bee Gum property, she stressed, “This is a nursery, ladies! The Indian River Lagoon is a nursery, and the worst thing that we could ever have is no more fish in the lagoon. Together, we can make sure that doesn’t happen. It is women who will save this lagoon.”
The Indian River Land Trust has raised $10 million over its 25-year history, conserving and preserving 900 acres, including 9 miles of shoreline.
“It all started with McKee. We got McKee up and running with a strong board, but there were other things in the county that needed to be done,” explained Toni Robinson, speaking of the Land Trust’s purchase and restoration of the McKee Botanical Garden property, which spun off as its own entity.
Robinson credited Land Trust board member John Johnson with shifting the focus from inland property to coastal shorelines, recognizing the urgency of protecting the lagoon from overdevelopment.
“I’ve got four daughters, and the husbands of two of them always like to fish from my dock, across from Prang Island,” said Robinson. “But they’re not catching them like they used to.”
Founding membership in Ladies of the Lagoon is $250 per year. General membership is $100. Indian River Land Trust membership is encouraged.